An essential noire adventure, filled with detail and cIass, with some amazing technology topping it all off.
Pros:
+Incredible face-recognition technology
+Cool, brilliantly paced story
+Authentic atmosphere
+Great presentation
+Lots of extra content
Cons:
-Investigations can be very particular
-Interrogations can occasionally be confusing
Review:
At first glance, L.A. Noire may look like nothing more than a 1940s version of GTA, with interspersed detective scenes and interviews with suspects. This first glance may even be close to the truth if L.A. Noire is only played for the gameplay itself. However, Team Bondi's first production is far more than the sum of its parts. It has to be taken as a whole, and when done so, it is a sumptous piece of atmospheric brilliance. It takes an incredibly fascinating time period in American history and utilizes it to it fullest extent. It's a living, breathing world filled with detail, and it's helped greatly by the amazing face-recognition technology framing the virtual town of forties' Los Angeles. It's far from being a crowdpleaser, but it never tries to be one. It's its own entity which manages to completely stand out of the crowd wearing a fedora hat and a pair of spit-shined loafers.
The setting is Los Angeles in the 1940s. You play as Cole Phelps, a war hero who is fresh off the battlefield and has gone back to the streets, as a rookie crimefighter in the Los Angeles Police Department. Not one to be just on par, Phelps quickly climbs the ubiquitous ladder of success by solving case after case, going from his humble roots as a police detective to the vice office itself and meeting with the city's seedy underbelly up close and personal. Noire's story is, to say the least, simple. However, it's in this simplicity where it can focus on other factors of the story instead. Authenticity, emotion, believability, not to mention drama, intrigue, heartbreak and betrayal. It's the trademark components of any story, yet none of it is far-fetched or out of place. It all fits into the weave of the narrative itself. It takes you into the heart of the police process while fleshing out multiple backstories to creat a satisfying whole. It's a true noire experience, grim, cool but with a surprising heart that gives off a sense of humanity and authenticity to every character.
One of the key aspects to the story's authenticity lies in the ingenious face-recognition technology the game possesses. Each of the game's characters has a respective actor who lends his face to the character's image. Through some technological magic, the human face's multitude of intricacies make it intact into the game, from a singular raised eyebrow to a fidgeting of the upper lip. The mouth actually moves in accordance to what is being said (which is far more impressive than one might think at first) and you can gauge the emotional status of a suspect by just reading his face. How this is used from a gameplay perspective will be explained later on, but as to how it benefits the overall atmosphere, it's groundbreaking stuff. This technology doesn't just extend itself to the main characters, every single non-player character in Los Angeles has a face that behaves normally. No dull eyes, black lines for mouths and emotionless expressions, you can really look at the NPC and see a person walking alongside you, not just an AI-controlled dummy. It makes the city feel alive, as if you really are a part of the fascinating world you play in. It would be easy to overstate this tecnology's importance, but it should not be understated either. Every character, no matter how relevant, feels unique and if believability is a game's intention, this type of face-recognition is the ultimate tool, lending depth where it previously never existed.
Believability is therefore, quite obviously, the game's main focus and it wouldn't do to only focus on the characters. Everything else has been set in a similar mould, gameplay included. In part, L.A. Noire plays much like any other third person sandbox title. There's one big central world, and therein are various points of interest, the most important of which are the story missions. You get from place to place via snazzy cars and you get the choice of either letting your companion drive (and skipping to the final destination) or driving yourself and soaking in the sights. You'll most likely end up doing both in equal amounts. It can be relatively monotonous to drive long distances with nothing going on but the occasional chatter of the radio and the hustle and bustle of the city itself. In those cases, skipping directly to your destination is ideal. However, if you choose to drive, you can take on various police calls which range from simple thefts to gruesome murders. There's also much to behold by just going sightseeing. The game's rendition of Los Angeles is ridiculously detailed, with no area looking like another in the most literal sense. There are unique stores on every street, neon signs glowing at night, beautiful views atop a multitude of hills, architecture to gawp at and even specific districts that have their own unique flavor. To the person looking for action, this might seem insubstantial but if your pleasure comes from the detail, L.A. Noire is a feast for the attentive mind.
The meat of the game comes in the story missions, however. The focal point in these is the investigation, where you play detective looking for clues and stringing together pieces of evidence to come to one singular conclusion. Once you enter a crime scene, special music starts to signify the change of area. Each time you approach an item that can be investigated, a chime plays to help you along. You can then get a close-up of that item and carefully look at it from every angle. Once you've found all relevant clues, the music then stops. These investigations are usually entertaining and straight-forward. However, there are occasional exceptions. The game can be ridiculously specific about what is and isn't an important clue. In particularly big crime scenes, finding all the clues can boil down to simple pixel-hunting, hugging walls and scanning the entire area for just one, often useless, clue. Needless to say, this isn't fun and becomes tedious before long. Usually the game paces these investigations well, however, and they rarely overstay their welcome.
After you've investigated a crime scene, you continue on to the other important piece of the crime-solving agenda: interrogation. This is where the true pay-off of the face-recognition technology comes to light. Depending on how much evidence you gathered beforehand, you get to ask persons of interest (or POI) various questions. After each inquiry, you must choose one of three possibilities: the person is telling the truth, not telling you the whole story or is downright lieing to you. By reading the POI's face, you can ascertain what choice is the correct one. If he has a straight face, he's most likely telling the truth. If there's any sort of disturbance in the face, however, it's not so simple. Then you'll have to peruse your evidence and see what is inconsistent about their testimony, and then hit him with evidence if you accuse him of lying. This is, like investigating, usually a hassle-free experience. It's easily one of the game's most entertaining aspects, in fact, and makes you feel like a real detective. The game can be very particular in what it's asking for, unfortunately. The lines between doubt and lie are often laughably slim, and sometimes the game even expects you to understand when the person is lieing by omission. It's a lot to ask and might lead to not-so favorable results. Otherwise, it's an integral part of the experience and brilliantly implemented.
These two things aren't all you'll do in the story missions, though. Sometimes, a suspect will flee from the scene and you'll have to chase him down, either by foot or car. If by foot, you can variously run him down or threaten him with gunfire to make him surrender. If it's a car chase, things get even more exciting. Your partner will try to shoot at the fleeing party's tires, while you try your absolute best at pushing him off the road. The car chases are some of the game's most cinematic moments, emulating the action films of bygone eras perfectly. You might even have to participate in shoot-outs and stand-ups, both requiring pinpoint accuracy and skill with a gun. There are incredibly varied scenarios at every corner and just when you think Noire can't bring forth anything new, it does so with relative ease.
This applies to the aforementioned police calls too, so there's more than enough to do in the city of Los Angeles. You can also look for landmarks, special golden film reels bearing the titles of cIassic movies and gorgeous deluxe cars which you can drive as much as you want on the streets of the city. These are just little bonuses, but they're bonuses that make everything deeper and more realistic. All in all, the game should last the overall player over 20 hours, and if you're a fan of collectibles and finishing everything 100%, this number can be far exceeded.
From a presentational standpoint, L.A. Noire is very impressive. The much touted face-recognition technology has already been mentioned, but this would be impossible if the visual fidelity weren't up to the challenge. The faces not only act real, they look real, and so does the entirety of Los Angeles. You'd be hard-pressed finding a city that is more realistically represented as Noire's L.A., and it works magic for the overall atmosphere. The music does so as well, since it's a wide assortment of cIassic 40s music that blasts through your car radio combined with the original tracks that sound like they're straight out of a noire film (i.e. incredibly appropriate). The voice-acting is nothing short of superb. The actors also voice their characters, so the voice always fits the character that is speaking, and there is some great talent there to lend their voice. The most notable is John Noble, who is also known for his appearances in Fringe and in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. A stellar job in every way.
The atmosphere has been mentioned often throughout the review, and that's for a good reason. L.A. Noire is all about the atmosphere. Whether it's how you're actually penalized for hitting people and cars (by way of rank deductions at the end of the mission) to how there's detail in even the most unimportant places. There's a constant source of wonder in exploring the city itself, while fighting bad guys, inspecting crime scenes and interrogating suspects. How much you appreciate the game, however, is dependent on how much you value the atmosphere itself. On its own, the gameplay of L.A. Noire is incredibly rudimentary, but when tied to the story, the world, the technology and the atmosphere, it becomes something extraordinary. It's not just a game, it's like being the main character in your very own noire film. If that's something you find unappealing, then this is not the game for you. But if this has been your secret dream for years, you finally have a game to satiate your desire.
Story: 9.3/10.0
Gameplay: 9.1/10.0
Graphics: 9.6/10.0
Sound: 9.1/10.0
Replayability: 8.4/10.0
Final score: 9.0/10.0